Dispensing tube closures



Dec. 25, 1956 R. B. WAITE DISPENSING TUBE cLosuREs I Filed April 6, 1955 I N V EN TOR. R4 P 3. WHITE DISPENSING TUBE CLOSURES Ralph B. Waite, Springville, N. Y. Application April 6, 1955, Serial No. 499,574

11 Claims. (Cl. 222-92) My invention relates in general to improvements in collapsible dispensing devices and in particular to means for closing a dispensing container such as a collapsible dispensing tube for toothpaste and similar materials.

In my previous Patent No. 2,574,991, granted November 13, 1951, I have described a dispensing tube for cream materials, such as toothpaste, shaving cream and the like, wherein the usual threaded cap is omitted and a slidable dispensing closure is employed in the neck of the tube. This closure and the surrounding neck of the container have cooperating cylindrical and tapered portions, which substantially fit whenthe closure is moved to its closed position, thus preventing the escape of any of the material from the tube, even if the tube is subjected to externally-applied mechanical pressure or internal pressure due to the expansion of material in the tube when the temperature thereof increases. The cream in the tube may be dispensed merely by pulling the dispensing closure upwardly out of the tube to the limit of its movement and then applying pressure to the tube. The closure is provided with a longitudinal passage communicating with a transverse dispensing port arranged above the neck of the tube when the closure is in dispensing position, and any desired amount of cream may readily be discharged from the tube through said discharge port. After the discharging operation, the closure is pushed back intothe neck of the tube to the limit of its movement, and it is characteristic of the device that such operation does not displace cream from the tube through the passage and discharging port or leave a daub of cream projecting from the closure.

Although the structure referred to is highly ingenious and practical, difiiculty was experienced in the manufacture of the closure when made from the most durable materials, such as thermoplastic and specifically polyethylene. The passage through the closure was formed with substantially parallel sides which resulted in a closure having two opposed relatively thick side walls, the other two opposite walls being relatively thin which causes an out-of-round closure after removal from the production mold due to uneven shrinkage of the side Walls. These closures tend to, therefore, bind in the necks of the tubes which is very undesirable since it prevents free manual movement of the closure between its normally closed and discharging positions without the gripping of the tube body, thus causing the extrusion of unwanted cream during movement of the closure. Furthermore, if the closure is reduced in size to overcome the above disadvantage, cream Will leak around the closure When in its closed position or when it is'moved from the open to the closed position.

I have discovered that if the closure is formed with a round hole coaxial with the exterior circumference thereof, uniform thickness of the wall will result, and the unequal shrinkage will not occur. Such closures may, therefore, be made of such proportions as to properly seal the openings no matter what the position of the closure.

nited States PatentO 2,775,369 Patented Dec. 25, 1956 closure may be minimized by the limited and uniform clearance of the closure in the cylindrical portion of the neck, and that owing to the small tolerance permitted, any such leakage can be wholly prevented in either position of the closure by providing the same with two small raised rings, so positioned on the closure that one of them will be located in the center of the cylindrical portion of the tube neck when the plug is in its discharging position, and the other of which will be located in the substantially same position in the cylindrical portion of the tube neck when the closure is in its closed position. The invention, therefore, provides a result-ant dispensing tube which is highly satisfactory in use in every respect.

In the drawings, I have shown one embodiment of the dispensing tube and closure, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of a tube provided with my improved closure, portions of the container being broken away;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view showing a longitudinal sectional view taken through the neck of the tube and through the closure, with the closure in its closed position;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the closure in its open or discharge position; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan sectional view of the closure taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 2.

The invention has been illustrated in connection with a container of the collapsible tube type. The container is formed of deformable material of the usual type such as used for dispensing cream of the various kinds. The body of the container is illustrated by the numeral 10 which terminates in an upwardly projecting neck 11. The neck is formed with a. longitudinal passage 27 which has a cylindrical closure portion 14 located between a plane passing through the broken lines 55 and a plane indicated by the broken line 1313 terminating at its lower end in a shoulder 31. The neck passage is also provided with a slightly tapered portion 15 extending outwardly in diverging manner from the line 5-5 to the upper extremity of the passage.

Slidable within the cylindrical neck of the container is the discharging closure 18. Above the dot and dash line indicated at 55 the closure is provided with an outwardly flaring tapered portion 19 which is so proportioned as to fit the outwardly flaring tapered container portion 15 of the neck. The closure is formed below the line 5-5 with a cylindrical closure portion 17 which is so proportioned as to slide freely within the cylindrical container portion 14 of the neck.

The cylindrical portion 17 of the closure is formed with a relatively thin wall 20 of substantially uniform thickness having a sealing ring 21 near its upper end and a sealing ring 22 near its lower end. These rings are so spaced on the cylindrical portion of the closure that the ring 21 will engage the center of the cylindrical container portion 14 of the neck when the closure is in closed position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the ring 22 will engage substantially the same surface in the neck when the closure is in its open or discharge position, as shown in Fig. 3. Since the closure is made preferably of slightly deformable material, when occupying either of the positions just above indicated, the material in the tube will press the thin wall 20 thereof and bring it into sealing contact with the cylindrical container portion 14 of the neck, thus preventing leakage of the cream when the closure is in either position. more completely seal the container, the closure is formed So as to at the upper end of its tapered portion with a series of spaced sealing rings 23. These rings as well as the rings 21 and 22 permit a desirable variation in tolerance between the engaging surfaces of the neck and engaging portions of the closure.

j The thin wall 20 of the closure provides a longitudinal bore 24 at the lower end of the cylindrical closure portion 17, and a lateral discharge port 25 is provided near its upper end. The bore 24 is connected to-the lateral discharging port 25 by means of a communicating gate 26 formed in a partition 28 located at the upper end of the bore and bounding one side of the port 25. The passage is of smaller diameterthan thebore 24 whereby a shoulder 30 is provided at the upper end of the bore 24. This shoulder .is preferably tapered so that the upper end of the bore 24 extends above the shoulder 31 of the neck. Therefore, when the closure is in its closed position, any pressure exerted on the tube will tend to slightly expand the upper end of the wall 20 of the. cylindrical portion of the closure and firmlyipress it in sealing contact against the cylindrical closure portion 14 of the neck. The diameter and length of the gate 26 is proportioned in definite relation to the viscosity of the cream to be dispensed from the tube, so that when the closure member is moved from its discharging position to its closed position, the resistance to the passage of cream through the gate 26 will be sufficient to prevent further cream from being discharged from the discharge port 25, thereby preventing the creation of a daub of cream at the outlet port 25. Instead, the cream is pushed into the tube owing to the resistance to its passage through the restricted gate 26 when the closure is moved to its closed position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

When in closed position, the closure is sealed by means of the rings 23. The closure is provided with a cap 32 having two oppositely directed ears 33 by which the closure may be easily moved to its dispensing position. A button 34 may be provided on top of the cap for engagement with any stationary surface to push the closure to its closed position. In order to prevent the closure from being withdrawn from the neck of the tube a detent ring 35 is formed at the lower end of the cylindrical closure portion thereof and is spaced from the lower ring 22 sufiiciently so as to permit the ring to be moved to sealing position before the detent contacts the lower shoulder 31 of the neck. Due to the plastic nature of the closure, the wall thereof will be collapsed slightly when the head of the detent ring is forced into and through the neck 11 of the tube, expanding to its normal size upon passage into the body of the container. When within the container the detent will prevent the closure from being disengaged from the tube by contact with the shoulder 31. The pressure of cream in the cylindrical passage 24 will also serve to keep the wall 20 of the closure in normal position.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that seepage of the material contained in the tube when the closure is in its closed position will be prevented from passing up in between the closure and the coacting surface of the neck by the upper ring 21, and in like manner'such seepage will .be prevented from passing between such surfaces when the closure member is in its open position by the inner ring 22. Therefore, material will be prevented from seeping into the space between the coacting surfaces.

What is claimed is:

l. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion, of a dispensing closure slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinal material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end of sufficient length to engage said cylindrical container portion during its predetermined stroke, and spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with the cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure.

2. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion and with an outwardly flaring portion connected to the cylindrical container portion and terminating at the outer end of the neck, of a dispensing closure slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinal material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispepsing port near its upper end, said closure having a cylindrical container portion at its inner end of sufficient length to engage said cylindrical container portion during its predetermined stroke, said closure being provided with a tapered portion for sealing engagement with the tapered portion of the neck when said closure is in its closed position, and spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at position which will bring each ring into engagement with the cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure.

3. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion, of a dispensing closure slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinally disposed cylindrical material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, the longitudinal passage being formed with a restricted portion extending inwardly from the lateral passage, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end of sutlicient length to engage the cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, and spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with the cylindrical container portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure.

4. The combination witha collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion and with an outwardly flaring tapered container portion connected to the cylindrical container portion and terminating at the outer end of the neck, of a dispensing closure slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinally disposed cylindrical material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, the longitudinal passage being formed with a restricted portion extending inwardly from the lateral passage, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end of sufiicient length to engage the cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, said closure being provided with a tapered portion for sealing engagement with the tapered portion of the neck when said closure i in its closed position, and spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with the cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure.

5. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion, of a dispensing closure of deformable material slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinal material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, a partition formed in the closure and disposed at the upper end of the material passage, the partition being formed with a restricted gate extending inwardly from said lateral passage, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end sufliciently long to engage said cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with said cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure, and an annular detent ring at the lower end of said closure for engagement with the inner shoulder of said container neck.

6. The combination with a collapsible dispensing con tainer provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion and with an outwardly flaring portion connected to the cylindrical container portion and terminating at the outer end of the neck, of a dispensing closure of deformable material slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinal material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, a partition formed in the closure and disposed at the upper end of the material passage, the partition being formed with a restricted gate extending inwardly from said lateral passage, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end sufiiciently long to engage said cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, said closure being formed wtih a tapered portion for sealing engagement with the tapered portion of the neck when said closure is in its closed position, spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with said cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure, and an annular detent ring at the lower end of said closure for engagement with the inner shoulder of said container neck.

7. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion and an outwardly flaring portion connected to the cylindrical container portion and terminating at the outer end of the neck, of a dispensing closure of deformable material slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinal material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end sufiiciently long to engage said cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, said closure being formed with a tapered portion for sealing engagement with the tapered portion of the neck when said closure is in its closed position, spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with said cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure, and an annular detent ring at the lower end of said closure for engagement with the inner shoulder of said container neck.

8. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion, of a dispensing closure slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinally disposed cylindrical material passage opening into the closure and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end,

a partition formed in the closure and disposed at the upper end of the material passage, the partition being formed with a restricted gate extending inwardly from the lateral passage, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end of sufiicient length to engage the cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, the cylindrical portion of said closure being provided with a thin wall of substantially uniform thickness, and spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with the cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure.

9. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion, of a dispensing closure slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinally disposed cylindrical material passage opening into the closure and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, a partition formed in the closure and disposed at the upper end of the material passage, the partition being formed with a restricted gate of cylindrical shape extending inwardly from the lateral passage, said restricted portion having a diameter and length proportioned in definite relation to the viscosity of the material being dispensed from the tube, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end of suflicient length to engage the cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, and spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with the cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure.

10. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion, of a dispensing closure of deformable material slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinal material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, a partition formed in the closure and disposed at the upper end of the material passage, the partition being formed with a restricted gate extending inwardly from said lateral passage, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end sufliciently long to engage said cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke, spaced sealing rings formed on the cylindrical portion of said closure at positions which will bring each ring into engagement with said cylindrical portion of said neck at each extreme position of said closure, and an annular detent shoulder at the lower end of said closure, said detent shoulder having a diameter which permits the closure to be forced into and through the neck of the container, such ring being engageable with the inner shoulder of said container neck when in dispensing position.

11. The combination with a collapsible dispensing container provided with a neck having an outlet passage and formed with a cylindrical container portion, of a dispensing closure slidably disposed in the outlet passage of said neck, said closure having a longitudinally disposed cylindrical material passage opening into the container and formed with a lateral dispensing port near its upper end, said closure having a cylindrical portion at its inner end of suflicient length to engage the cylindrical portion of said neck during its predetermined stroke and a lateral partition dividing the longitudinal passage from the lateral dispensing port, said partition being formed with a restricted gate extending inwardly from the lateral passage and having a diameterless than the diameter of the longitudinal passage, whereby surplus material will be prevented from passing through the outlet opening when said closure is moved to its closed position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 445,067 Lyon Jan. 20, 1891 2,574,990 Waite Nov. 13, 1951 2,669,370 Royall Feb. 16, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 259,887 Great Britain Oct. 21, 1926 

